Dream team: Japanese school kids to make baseball history in Sweden

A year after Japan’s Olympic baseball victory, another dream team is about to make history as they board a flight from Tokyo to Stockholm next month. Six Japanese elementary school students are breaking new ground and healing hearts in the process.

But this is not only a story about baseball. It is one of connecting two countries together in times when the world has struggled to meet in person.

Sport, and people, made it happen.

They are heading to Leksand, Sweden, where I spent my childhood summers. A place so full of moving memories. The one place in the world that has remained a constant during my many years abroad in Barcelona, London, Tokyo, Kobe, and Olympia.

The fortunate travelers live in Kanagawa, not far from the Tokyo city border. They attend one of the smallest public elementary schools in Takatsu ward. Yet, with 34 kids playing for Shimosakunobe Dai-ichi Peppers, they make up the biggest youth baseball team in the ward.

Last season's play by the six soon heading to Sweden attracted kids in the school area to come try out the sport. And some families in other schools even opted for Peppers over their own school teams.

Dreamers inspire dreamers.

Tamagawa River is their home base. That's where they spend most of their weekends training and playing games. It takes ten minutes to get there by bicycle. But soon they are off by airplane on an adventure far beyond that river. For a team that dreamed of making it to city, prefectural, and national tournaments, a trip abroad has stretched their vision of what is possible.

Five of the children got their passports ahead of the trip to Sweden. Four of them have never been abroad.

For my son Melvin, vice captain and pictured throughout this article, this trip goes one level beyond. He will see his Swedish grandparents for the first time in three years. That is almost a quarter of his life.

He always spoke about bringing his Japanese friends to Sweden one day. In class at school, he showed Leksand on Google maps.

Dreaming is for dreamers.

Leksand holds so much beyond the emotional significance of the family reunion. In a country more known for its winter sports, it is the hometown of the reigning Swedish baseball champions Leksand Lumberjacks.

And what's more, Leksand enjoys a solid bond with Japan. With support from one of the biggest employers in the area, Tomoku Hus, a manufacturer of wooden house components, windows and doors with Japan as its biggest market, Japanese players have joined the Lumberjacks in the past. Motohiro Koga from Osaka played there in 2019.

The relations extend deeply into culture as well: Earlier in April, a Japanese film festival was held in Leksand. The midsummer celebrations have Japanese interpretation to cater to tourists. Tobetsu town in Hokkaido is a sister city.

In June, we are adding the Shimosakunobe Dai-ichi Peppers visit to the history books.

Sport and storytelling can change the world. But they cannot do it on their own. They need a dream team to take them places — be it to stadiums, training grounds, or home bases — where emotional experiences change people positively.

Sport and storytelling change people and people change the world. That positive change is my driving force.

So I never hesitated when my gut said yes to an idea I had in February. That same evening I sent off an application to Siljan-Japan Stiftelsen, a foundation promoting international cultural and sports exchange.

In April, we received good news.

A generous grant made it possible for Shimosakunobe Dai-ichi Peppers to go meet with Leksands Baseboll & Softboll klubb for an unforgettable sports exchange.

After checking with the Peppers head coach on important tournament dates, we extended the invitation to all six 6th-graders. All signed up overnight. Plans were immediately made to go get passports. Within a week, all done. A dear friend, Kato-san, connected us to JTB and we booked tickets.

Dreams come true when you're a dream team.

Staying active through sports, especially so baseball, kept my son and our family healthy during the Covid-19 pandemic. Most weekends start with a 05.30am wake up call, the rice cooker delivering rice with a beep, and Melvin's father Kazu preparing the obento lunch box.

They finish at 5pm by sweeping and then respectfully bowing to the field, and to the parents, in gratitude. After a full day of training and one or two games, Melvin returns home tired, hungry and ready for a shower. And then he heads out to play a bit more with his friends in the neighborhood.

These rituals are the perfect backdrop to a unique experience in the very unknown as they travel to Leksand in the stunning Dalarna region.

How will they train with the local Swedish kids? What about the tournament in Karlskoga they've been invited to join?

And what will it be like to depart from the land of the rising sun and arrive where the sun never sets?

The game may be the same in Sweden but the balls are different. They won't be able to use their own bats. They'll have to speak in English or use body language to get their point across.

Sport is a universal language. At times they will be at a loss for words. And that is completely OK. Culture shock will be part of this trip, and it almost should be. Everything will be strange. The farther from their everyday life in Japan, the richer the return.

The Shimosakunobe Dai-ichi Peppers head coach, Murakami-san, told me he is grateful for the once in a lifetime opportunity given to the 6th-graders. Two of the coaches; an elementary school teacher and a designer, have sons traveling to Sweden.

For me, the trip is a symbolic thank you to the thousands of hours they all volunteer to train my son and his mates every Saturday and Sunday throughout the year.

The trip is also a broadening of all the Swedish-Japanese love already in place in Leksand, and between the two countries. And it's a generational reunion. And one boy's dream come true to show his Japanese friends his Swedish DNA.

In Leksand, a whole community of baseball and Japan lovers are preparing to welcome their Japanese guests. Coach Andy is planning a day camp. Playdates are on the agenda.

We hope for good weather and sunny boat rides on Lake Siljan. Fika with new friends.

Maybe a day trip to watch R?ttvik Butchers Vs. Leksand Lumberjacks?

How will the encounter turn out for the hosting and visiting children? How do you communicate when you speak very little English? And how does it feel to play baseball, the Swedish way?

This trip is just the beginning, sparking spinoffs that stories will tell in the future. I dream of the reverse, welcoming Swedish children in Japan one day.

Dreams come true when you are a dream team.

Sport and storytelling can change the world. But they cannot do it on their own. They need a dream team to take them places — and this journey is full of supporters in Sweden and Japan who want to change the world. Make it better. Through sport.

I'm so proud of the flag-bearing six going to my home country, and of their parents who gave their thumbs-up without hesitation.

Bon voyage Melvin and team. Go make new friends and then tell the world about it.

Written by Vanessa ?sell-Tsuruga

Pictures by Manami Ozaki